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Image Credit: Andre Lyon
The tagline connected Lobus is “Culture successful an plus class” and “Today, you tin bargain a stock of Apple. Tomorrow, you tin bargain a stock of Broadway.” Had this task been astir erstwhile Andre “Dre” Lyon was younger, he would person enactment each his wealth into OutKast. “Growing up, if the hip-hop duo OutKast was an investable asset, that is thing I would person invested each of my wealth into,” helium tells HollywoodLife when discussing his concern with the Lobu platform. “If I had spent each my wealth connected everything that OutKast did oregon immoderate affiliate of OutKast, I would enactment their euphony oregon thing they were doing.”
“So basically,” Dre tells HL, “if they were an investable plus that I could property put connected backmost successful the day, I would person gained much wealthiness due to the fact that I could put successful my favourite duo. That’s what we’re doing and moving towards realizing that.”
(Andre Lyon)Dre has partnered with Lobus cofounders Lori Holtz and Sarah Wendell Sherrill on Lobus, a level that commoditizes blockchain tech successful a mode that allows fans to put successful their favourite creatives’ futures, and for these artists “to support partial ownership of the works they merchantability truthful that they tin payment from secondary transactions down the line,” per TechCrunch. For example, if 1 paints a coating and sells it for $5,000, that’s the astir they get. That creator doesn’t get a chopped erstwhile that aforesaid coating sells for $10k astatine an auction years later.
One of the platform’s goals is to assistance artists support “fractional ownership” done these secondary sales, ensuring they ever marque immoderate wealth disconnected their art. Another goal, arsenic Dre tells HL, is to assistance investors marque wealth for their aboriginal – and their families futures.
“What motivated maine to spouse with Lobus was realizing that determination is simply a mode to make generational wealth,” says Dre. “To me, Lobus was an introduction constituent into the satellite of finance. Our cofounders, Lori Hotz and Sarah Wendell Sherrill, showed maine however generational wealthiness is created successful the satellite of finance, and it’s important that I make that for my household and besides stock that cognition with my peers.”
For artists similar Dre, this is simply a imaginable accidental to make a antithetic root of income alternatively of having to trust connected paltry streaming payouts oregon costly tours. While Dre is well-established successful the hip-hop satellite – having worked with Fat Joe (“All The Way Up”), Lil Wayne (“On Fire”), Nas (“Make The World Go Round”), and much – those conscionable starting retired could get an income boost. Plus, those consenting to put successful Dre’s originative aboriginal could besides bash truthful done Lobus.
In an EXCLUSIVE interview, Dre explains however Lobus works and wherefore this task looks to bring astir a full caller fiscal revolution.
(Andre Lyon)HollywoodLife: In the caller emergence of integer investments and cryptocurrency, tin you explicate however this caller level differs from an NFT? How does this really work?
Dre: The crushed our level works is due to the fact that this procreation is precise hep to investing. I deliberation the emergence of NFTs and cryptocurrencies was astir similar a gateway cause into the satellite of investing. People started dabbling with that, and present we person truthful galore platforms with radical from our assemblage speaking connected fiscal literacy, investing, and increasing your wealth. What I emotion astir what we’re doing with Lobus is we’re creating a level wherever creatives similar myself tin beryllium an investment. We similar to telephone ourselves brands each the time, but our level is going to crook creatives similar myself into an investable asset, to wherever fans of my euphony tin person an accidental to put successful maine arsenic if I was a stock.
Growing up, if the hip-hop duo OutKast was an investable asset, that is thing I would person invested each of my wealth into. If I had spent each my wealth connected everything that OutKast did oregon immoderate affiliate of OutKast, I would enactment their euphony oregon thing they were doing. So basically, if they were an investable plus that I could property put connected backmost successful the day, I would person gained much wealthiness due to the fact that I could put successful my favourite duo. That’s what we’re doing, and moving towards realizing that.
Is determination a threshold for artists to connection shares of their discography? Like, tin a chamber shaper spell nationalist with their SoundCloud account? Or volition determination beryllium guidelines for artists successful applying for this venture?
No, determination is nary threshold. The extremity of Lobus is to revolutionize the satellite of concern and make a caller fiscal model. That is archetypal and supra everything. We privation to beryllium accessible to each creator — the aforesaid mode you tin spell retired and bargain an Apple Mac oregon MPC bushed instrumentality is the aforesaid mode we privation creatives to usage our level to person their fans put successful their career. There is nary threshold, and you don’t person to person 5,000 fans to beryllium a portion of what we are doing. The thought down what we are doing is we privation the creator to beryllium an owner. We privation the creator to beryllium astatine the caput of the table.
(Andre Lyon)Would the creator clasp ownership of their intelligence property? Like, what – successful your sentiment – is the main gully to going this route?
Financial state is the main gully and a exemplary that is acceptable up for an creator to make wealthiness for themselves. I person spent 2 decades alongside my shaper partner, Cool, creating wealthiness for the grounds companies that we produced for. We’ve been blessed to person a palmy vocation and financially blessed to marque the wealth we have, but it is not adjacent a portion of the pastry compared to what the grounds companies oregon the publishing companies make. We privation creatives to beryllium capable to person an IP, enactment it successful a fund, beryllium a portion of the transportation of the fund, and make existent wealth.
Lobus CEO Lori Hotz erstwhile told maine that wrong the 15 years of her concern career, she realized that successful summation to wage and bonus, generational wealthiness was created by being a portion of the wide concern of a money and receiving carried interest. That is the full thought down what we are doing. We privation the creator to person ownership and to put their blood, sweat, and tears into thing that volition nutrient wealthiness good beyond their ain years. That way, their kids’ kids tin devour disconnected their hard work.
This task is unfastened for “artists, musicians, filmmakers, influencers, and others” to “monetize their intelligence property.” Would idiosyncratic person a stock in, say, a YouTube video and person a nett stock successful that video?
All streams of income would beryllium successful play. The wealth that you marque disconnected YouTube is simply a watercourse of income that is portion of your catalog, that’s portion of your IP. That would beryllium thing that you tin include. You don’t person to see everything that you ain into the fund, but if your YouTube videos and your stock of the gross watercourse that comes from that is thing you privation to enactment into the fund, past perfectly you tin bash that.
Is determination immoderate mode that these investments mightiness beryllium insured? If idiosyncratic invests successful an artist, would they beryllium capable to get that concern backmost if that creator happened to get Milkshake Duck’d?
Everything successful beingness is simply a risk. I spoke to idiosyncratic today, and they said, “Hey, what if this idiosyncratic gets deed by a bus!” I was similar you can’t deliberation similar that, but determination is hazard successful everything that you do. What Lobus is doing is minimizing that risk. One of the cardinal things for the investors is that we minimize the hazard arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable for the investors. We privation everyone to travel retired arsenic a winner.
Lastly, is determination thing other you privation to adhd astir Lobus that creators whitethorn privation to know?
We person immoderate breathtaking things happening. In a fewer weeks, we are going to beryllium making a immense announcement astir Lobus and 1 of our archetypal offerings. Our goals are to enactment creatives first, marque creators owners of everything that they create, assistance creators make generational wealth, enactment creatives astatine the caput of the table, and beryllium successful the aforesaid country arsenic a batch of decision-makers that marque decisions connected CEO salaries.
I deliberation the ceiling for america is that we are talking to the President oregon CEO of a large corporation, but determination is different level supra that. We privation the creatives to spell consecutive to the apical with their ideas and make fiscal freedom. A batch of creators person ideas extracurricular of conscionable being an artist, a euphony producer, a painter, a scriptwriter, oregon a Broadway play actor.
We person tons of ideas, but we ne'er truly person the fiscal state to spell retired determination and bash these things, truthful we are stuck doing the things that we cognize however to bash to wage the bills. We privation to bash is to springiness creatives an accidental to person immoderate state financially to spell retired determination and truly beryllium the champion mentation of you.
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